


Day 4: Human Shield

by tbazzsnow (Artescapri)



Series: Whumptober 2019 [4]
Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Day 4, Fifth Year, Human shield prompt, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, SImon and Baz fight the chimera, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-27 01:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21383995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artescapri/pseuds/tbazzsnow
Summary: Whumptober Day 4 prompt: Human ShieldSImon and Baz fight the chimera fifth year.
Relationships: Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Series: Whumptober 2019 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1541554
Comments: 5
Kudos: 100





	Day 4: Human Shield

**Simon**

There’s nothing for it. The bloody thing is incorporeal. How am I supposed to battle creatures with the blasted Sword of Mages if the damn things can’t be slashed or stabbed?

I can hear the Mage’s voice in my head. “_Use your words, Simon. Magic is what elevates us. Words are what give us power.”_

Baz is using his words. Magic words and a whole lot of other ones too. Mostly directed at me.

“Fucking unleash, Snow. What are you waiting for?”

I grit my teeth and ignore him, swiping at the chimera’s neck again. My sword slides right through it.

“Snow, you bloody nightmare! Stop fucking around. _Do it.”_

I slash at the chimera’s legs, almost stumbling as my sword whistles through the air. It’s putting me off balance, not having a solid mass where I should be making contact.

It’s throwing me off.

Baz has taken cover behind a rock and he’s casting spells so rapidly I can hardly catch the words. He’s throwing them out one after another, like verses in a song.

I make a run for it and duck down next to him.

“I can’t see how Bunce has survived this long.” There’s a bloody chimera launching fireballs at us and he’s making conversation. Typical.

“Shut up.”

“No, I’m being serious. Are you always this useless?”

“I told you to shut up.”

“No wonder she tags along after you, like an over-protective, spell-casting nanny. Your own personal Mary Poppins, but a hell of a lot grumpier. You’d be dead in ditch without her, if this is any—”

I interrupt him, growling my words out. “Fucking belt up, Baz, so help me.”

“I am helping you. I’m also getting my last few insults in before the chimera annihilates us both, Snow. A dying man’s last wish. You have to honor that, even if you are a mannerless ignoramus.”

“The fuck I do.”

Baz’s earlier spell offensive has somehow managed to slow the chimera down. It looks like a stop-motion animation now. A bad one—all jerky, uncoordinated movements but at least it’s not getting any closer. Or blasting us with fire.

For now.

I didn’t even hear what spell he cast. Tosser.

Baz crouches down lower behind our rock and sighs. “Come on, Snow. Do whatever you do. Go nuclear. Just hurry up. I’m relishing getting my insults in, but I’ve got a paper to write for Political Science tonight and you’re wasting my valuable time.”

“You. . . you bastard. You’re the reason we’re out here fighting this thing. Not me.”

“Well, I’ve been led to assume you were good at this. It’s all hype, I suppose. Just as I thought.”

He’s not wrong. I am bloody useless against this thing. My sword’s no help and any spell I try will likely just make things worse.

But I can’t just turn it on and off. My magic. Can’t just open a tap. It doesn’t work that way. Not for me.

It’s so bloody frustrating. I get angry when I think about it. Some Mage’s heir I am.

I can’t let myself think about that. Not right now.

Except maybe I should. Maybe I should let myself get angry. Maybe then I’d go off and be done with this disaster.

The chimera hisses at us and Baz turns his attention to sending spells its way again.

I can’t help but watch him. It’s so easy for Baz. Everything is. Schoolwork. Football. Magic. He’s casting spell after spell, not even pausing for breath, flicking his wrist just so, his wand directing the magic with a precision I can only dream of. He’s tireless. He’s been casting this whole time and not a hair out of place.

I’m so fucking jealous. 

I can feel heat along my skin and the shimmer of my magic intensifies.

Baz knocks his shoulder into mine. “That should hold it long enough for you to detonate, Snow. Come on.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

It’s his turn to growl at me. “It bloody well does.”

The chimera howls again. Baz leans over the rock and hurls some spell in Latin, I think.

“Close your eyes and light a match, Snow. That’s what my mother always told me.” He goes back to shouting spells at the chimera. And shouting insults at me.

He’s the one who’s actually keeping it somewhat at bay. 

I think about fire. I think about lighting a match. I think about a flame, just in front of my chest, cupped in my hand like I’ve seen Baz hold it.

I think about Baz. How he’s a vampire. How fire is the most dangerous thing for him to be around and how he uses it anyway. Holds it in his hands. Passes it through his fingers. Not a flinch, not a flicker of fear on his face.

The chimera scorches the grass in front of our rock with a breath.

It doesn’t matter if Baz lured me out here. It doesn’t matter if he set this up. The chimera is here and breathing fire and Baz is standing his ground as if he won’t go up like flash-paper if even one spark lands on him.

I don’t want that to happen. I need to keep him safe.

I don’t know why I should. He’s a bloody arsehole. But he’s my roommate. And I want to protect him, Merlin knows why.

I close my eyes and think about lighting a match. I can’t. I can’t think about a match so close to Baz. I’m sweating now and the red mist is starting to cloud my vision. No matches. No flames. I stand up and make my way in front of the rock, ignoring Baz’s shout and sliding away from the hand he throws out to stop me.

I face the chimera head on.

It sends a blast of fire in our direction again. _In Baz’s direction_. And that’s all it takes.

I close my eyes and the ground shakes, a sound like thunder echoing in my ears and then it all goes black.

**Baz**

Snow charges at the chimera, even though I shout at him to stop, to take cover. I try to grab his sleeve but he barrels past me, a blast of flames headed directly at him. He shimmers and the flames stop mid-air, as if they’ve run into an invisible wall.

Snow stands there, sword up, shielding me from it all. I know he is. I can’t feel the heat anymore, even though I’m just a few feet behind him.

For a moment the whole fucking wood rocks on its foundations and I grab hold of the stone I’m still sheltering behind to steady myself.

But not Snow. He stands there, immovable as a mountain, keeping his stance even through the thundering explosion of sound that follows. The chimera howls in fury and sends another scorching gout of flames in our direction. The blast of fire hits Snow’s invisible wall again but it folds in on itself this time.

I can’t describe it. It twists somehow and shoots right back at the chimera.

The chimera incinerates on contact with its own flames, going up in a raging fireball. The blast of it knocks me back and everything goes dark. 

I wake up hours later, in a blackened crater, Snow lying a few feet away from me. All that’s left of the rock we sheltered behind is a pile of dust.

There’s ash everywhere—on the ground, on Snow, on the trunks and leaves of the trees nearest us.

Everywhere but on me. Not a speck. Not a dusting. Nothing. There’s an outline of it around me, where I’m lying in the dirt.

He’d shielded me, the bastard. I’d lured him out here and he’d shielded _me_.

I don’t know what to think about that.

I don’t think I can do this anymore.


End file.
